Article Sidebar

Trending

Article content

Defence lawyers for a man charged with stabbing to death and mutilating an ex-girlfriend are seeking to have him deemed not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder.

Silva Koshwal’s trial on charges of second-degree murder and offering indignity to human remains began Monday in an Edmonton courtroom. He is charged with killing 38-year-old Nadine Skow, an ex-girlfriend, in her apartment on or about Aug. 24, 2015.

In an agreed statement of facts read into the record by Crown prosecutor Laurie Trahan, court heard Skow’s heart, ovaries and uterus were removed and her genitals mutilated. Her heart was found pinned to a wall with a knife, beneath a letter ‘A’ written in her blood.

Koshwal, sitting in the prisoner box wearing prisoner’s coveralls, kept his eyes downcast for most of the proceedings. Around 20 people sat in the courtroom, including Skow’s mother, father, brother and sister-in-law.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sterling Sanderman accepted Koshwal killed Skow, and must now determine whether Koshwal bears criminal responsibility. A forensic psychologist told court Koshwal suffers from mental disorders related to his early life in war-torn South Sudan.

Someone who is found not criminally responsible has been deemed by a judge or jury to have been suffering from a mental disorder while committing a criminal act, thus exempting them from criminal responsibility.

Court exhibit photo of Silva Moses Koshwal. /Edmonton

Under the Criminal Code, the disorder has to have rendered the person “incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act … or of knowing that it was wrong.”

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

Skow’s coworkers discovered her body in her apartment at 10650 104 St. on Aug. 25, 2015, after she failed to show up for work. Trahan described the apartment as being in disarray and covered in blood. In all, Trahan said Skow suffered 101 external stab wounds, 63 of which occurred while she was still alive.

Court heard Skow was planning to move to a new home and had arranged to exchange furniture with Koshwal, with whom she had been in a relationship for about three years prior to breaking up in 2014.

Skow worked for Chimo Youth Retreat Centre and had returned from a camping trip near Nordegg shortly before her body was discovered.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

A neighbour told investigators the pair had issues, and that he’d encountered Koshwal trying to enter Skow’s apartment the day before her death. He’d also been seen yelling at her apartment and mashing on the building’s buzzers.

Around 12 a.m. on Aug. 24, another of Skow’s neighbours heard “thumping” coming from her apartment. Koshwal had been spotted on transit cameras walking from his apartment toward Skow’s around that time.

About midnight or 1 a.m., Skow’s neighbour across the hall awoke to a strange man standing by her bed. The man ran out when she attacked him with an umbrella, but the neighbour did not call police. Nor did she call police when she heard a scream from Skow’s apartment, nor when she put her ear to the door of Skow’s suite and heard moaning.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

Another resident who lived below Skow heard someone scream “help me, he’s going to kill me” a few hours later, but also did not call the police.

Skow’s body was discovered Tuesday, Aug. 25, when a co-worker and a colleague visited Skow’s suite to check in on her.

According to the agreed facts, Koshwal turned himself in at police headquarters around 6 p.m. Aug. 25, and had a key to Skow’s vehicle with him. Koshwal’s fingerprint was discovered on a bottle of pomegranate liquor in the home. Skow’s blood was found on his nail beds.

Defence counsel Peter Royal called the case “highly disturbing,” adding that the facts read into the record were “horrendous.”

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

He called forensic psychologist Leslie Block, who interviewed Koshwal face-to-face for 11 hours.

Block said Koshwal suffers from “pathological disassociation,” as well as “severe and complex” post-traumatic stress disorder that has never been treated. Prior to Skow’s killing, Koshwal barely slept. When he did, he kept an axe close at hand, fearful that “they” were coming to harm him. He suffered from flashbacks and hallucinations, Block said.

Block said this likely springs from Koshwal’s early life in Sudan, in the midst of civil war and genocide when Koshwal was growing up.

A knife seized as evidence in the 2015 killing of Nadine Skow. It was found pierced through Skow’s heart, which had been removed and affixed to the wall of her bedroom. /Edmonton

While Koshwal is reluctant to talk about his experiences, Block said “he’s seen every type of carnage one should never have to see.” Koshwal frequently self-medicated with drugs and alcohol.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

Block suggested Koshwal may have suffered a “break from reality,” triggered by Skow’s moving away from their neighbourhood.

Block, who has testified in over 200 cases, described the Koshwal matter as “gruesome.”

Someone found not criminally responsible can be given an absolute discharge, a conditional discharge, or can be detained in hospital. The Crown is opposing the NCR and is expected to call its own psychologist to give evidence.

Notice for the Postmedia Network

This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.